When Glenn and Susan Lowry build a new house as part of a lakeside family compound in Canada, they add a jolt of contemporary design energy—but the vibe remains as sporty and laid-back as ever

Boat Dock

Boat Dock

As the director of New York's Museum of Modern Art, Glenn Lowry enjoys a weekday commute that takes less than three minutes. Every morning he leaves his apartment in Museum Tower, descends by elevator to 53rd Street, walks a few steps to the east, and heads to his office in the world-famous institution next door. But on summer weekends, this avid cyclist and outdoorsman cashes in on the commuting time he banks during the week, traveling 350 miles north to Quebec's Eastern Townships to join his wife, Susan, at the family camp where she has summered since the late 1950s.

Living Area

Living Area

Her mother, Gretta Chambers, a former chancellor of Montreal's McGill University, discovered the property one summer while boating with her children on Lake Memphremagog, a 27-mile-long glacial lake that straddles the Vermont border. "There was a 'For Sale' sign on a dock, and my mother said, 'Oh, let's stop and look,' " recalls Susan, a landscape architect, who was about six years old at the time.

They clambered onto shore and discovered a rambling log cabin that was fully furnished but appeared to be uninhabited. They learned that the owner, an American who loved to fish on the lake, had passed away, and his wife had no interest in maintaining the dilapidated house, which dated from the 1920s. "She sold it to our family for a song," Susan says, "with everything included—a beautiful old boat, clothing, blankets, and the dishes that my mother still uses today."

A wall of sandblasted glass backed by stacked cedar logs in the living area; the Montauk sofa is upholstered in a cotton duck, the stool is by Alvar Aalto, and the rattan lamp is by Michael Sodeau.